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A Yale economics professor known for developing a widely used measure of home prices was among three economists to be awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science on Monday.

Robert Shiller said he was surprised to win the honor: "People told me they thought I might win. I discounted it. Probably hundreds have been told that."

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences honored Shiller and Eugene Fama and Lars Peter Hansen, who are associated with the University of Chicago, "for their empirical analysis of asset prices."

Regulated properly, finance is "at the core of our civilization," said Shiller, who developed the Case-Shiller index, a leading measure of U.S. housing prices, with Wellesley College economist Karl Case. "I'm glad we're getting recognized for that fact," he said.

Shiller said that following the worst recession in decades, the reputation of finance has taken a beating.

"I think that finance is a framework in which many good things are done," he said. "It seems to some people it's selfish and money-grubbing. It doesn't really have to be that way."

For example, he said, many students from other countries are able to study in the United States because of financial aid made possible by investments.

He said the public has learned from the financial crisis that gripped the economy immediately after the start of the recession in 2008. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau established as a result of the recession is holding finance to higher standards, he said.

It's the second Nobel prize to a Yale faculty member in a week. James Rothman shared a Nobel in medicine last Monday.